Defying Gravity
"Why couldn't you have stayed calm for once, instead of always flying off the handle?"
Elphaba fought back an urge to strangle the blonde currently stomping around the room. It wouldn't look good on her track record if she accidentally throttled her best friend (well, best friend for one short day and counting), would it? But then again, since she had just ran out of an audience with the Wizard, with a hundred guards at her feet, track records aren't on top of her current priority list. There must be something to barricade this door with, to prevent the guards from coming in until she thought of a plan …
"I certainly hope you're happy we're in this mess. I hope you're happy now! I hope you're happy you hurt your cause forever, I hope you think you're clever!"
Honestly. There's really no room for creative problem solving when you have a blonde companion screeching in a closed attic, giving away your location to every single person in this damn castle.
"Well, I hope you're happy! I hope you're happy too! I hope you're proud how you would just grovel in submission to feed your own ambition! So though I can't imagine how …"
Glinda spoke at the same time. "I hope you're happy, right now!"
Elphaba turned back and continued rummaging in the cupboard. Besides an old broom, the cupboard yielded only a rusty bucket and nothing else. What on earth was she going to do?
Suddenly, a disembodied voice reverberated throughout the land, filtering in through the window. A voice … Familiar, and sickly so. Glinda turned to look at her, the same expression of mixed disbelief and horror reflected in her face.
"Citizens of Oz. There is an enemy who must be found and captured. Believe nothing she says!"
Oh, that's a just a tad too theatrical. Madam Morrible always did like a flair for the dramatic.
"She's evil, responsible for the mutilation of this poor innocent monkeys …"
Elphaba felt her amused expression drop, plummeting to the ground with her heart.
"Her green skin is but an outward manifestation of her twisted nature. This distortion. This repulsion. This … WICKED WITCH!"
Somehow, Glinda's small hand had found her way into hers.
"Don't be afraid." Glinda's voice trembled slightly.
"I'm not." Elphaba's voice sounded distant, faraway even to herself. "It's the Wizard who should be afraid … of me."
"Elphie, listen to me." Glinda grabbed her hands. "Just say you're sorry, before it's too late! Then everything will be all right; you can still be with the Wizard! Isn't that what you've worked and waited for. You can have all you ever wanted!"
"I know." Elphaba replied simply.
She looked into Glinda's eyes, so trusting and naïve, believing that every problem could be solved with a simple "sorry". But this wasn't just a "problem" now. Glinda's lips parted in confusion, forming a question. "But …"
"But I don't want it." Elphaba breathed, slightly surprised at her own calmness. "No … I can't want it. Not anymore." There was a certainty in her mind, something that never existed before. She walked over to the grimy window, gazing out at Oz. In the distance, she could see the guards closing the castle gates and drawing up the drawbridge. Somehow, this didn't make her panic, as it should.
"Something has changed within me … Something is not the same."
In the attic, there was only silence, broken by Glinda's rapid breathing. Elphaba struggled to convey to her best friend what she felt – the conviction that was growing stronger in her mind, the magic thrumming through her veins.
(At least, she hoped that was magic, not the footsteps of guards running through corridors below.)
"Glinda, don't you see? I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's games." Father, Madam Morrible, the Wizard himself … She gave a small laugh. "It's too late … Too late for second-guessing, too late to go back to sleep." Back to who I was, yearning for everyone's approval. "It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes … And leap."
"Elphaba, what are you talking – "
"It's time to try defying gravity." A wild idea was forming in her mind … Wild, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Wild, but plausible. Wild, and free, at last. "Yes, I think I'll try defying gravity … And you can't pull me down!"
Glinda said exasperatedly, "Can't I make you understand, Elphie? You're having delusions of grandeur … And now isn't the best time, you know! We're stuck in an attic with no way out, in case you haven't realized!"
Elphaba waved away the words of discouragement. There was nothing, nothing to stop her now! "I'm through accepting limits, just 'cause someone says they're so. I know there're some things I cannot change … But, Glinda, don't you see? Until I try, I'll never know! I've been afraid of losing love for too long, and now I guessed I've lost it anyway …" She laughs again, feeling free and weightless. "Well, if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost! I'd sooner buy defying gravity."
"Elphie – "
"Kiss me goodbye, Glinda." Elphaba suddenly felt sober. This was it. There was no turning back. "I'm defying gravity. Even the Wizard can't – "
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"Open this door, in the name of his supreme Ozness!"
Speak of the devil, and the devil shalt appear indeed.
Elphaba ran to the desk and grabbed the book. Only one way to go, now …
"Ah may ah tay ah tum ditum …"
"What are you doing? Stop it!" She could hear Glinda shrieking in the background as the magic began to take hold. "That's what started all this in the first place … That hideous levitation spell … Stop! STOP!"
Without a warning, the flow of magic ceased. Elphaba stopped, startled, and for once, slightly doubtful.
"Well? Where are your wings?" Glinda said breathlessly. "Maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are!"
Elphaba looked up, about to come back with a weak retort when there was a soft rustling to her left. The old broomstick, thrown in to a corner, rose and ruffed its twigs self-importantly.
"Sweet Oz!" Glinda gasped.
It worked! IT WORKED!
"What did I tell you, Glinda? What did I tell you?" Elphaba jumped up triumphantly, grabbing the broom. "Quick, get on!"
"WHAT?" If it was possible for Glinda to sound more shocked than she already was, well then, she did. Oh, surely, she wasn't staying to listen to the Wizard's lies?
"Come with me! Think of what we could do … Together!" Elphaba urged. She felt an inexplicable yearning to bring Glinda with her, to save her from all those lies that they had lived in. "Together, we'll be … Unlimited. Together we are unlimited. Together, we'll be the greatest team there's ever been … Glinda. Please." She was almost begging now. Anything, anything to save her best (and only) friend from the Wizard and Madam Morrible. "We could achieve our dreams, just the way we've planned them!"
"If we work in tandem …" Glinda replied slowly, her gaze unfocused. "There's no fight we cannot win." Elphaba nodded frantically. "Just you and I, defying gravity?"
"With you and I, defying gravity, they'll never bring us down." Elphaba affirmed. "Well? Are you going?"
Glinda snapped back into reality. She looked into Elphaba's eyes, and then Elphaba knew. Glinda wasn't ready; she wasn't ready to give up her sheltered life, with the people who loved her, she couldn't leave her parents and Fiyero behind. Elphaba understood it all with that one look, and somehow found herself unable to feel angry. If she had someone like Fiyero, she wouldn't … But she mentally shook herself. Now really wasn't the time.
Instead, she knelt down and put the Grimmerie in her worn school bag. It was time to leave.
"Elphie, you're trembling!" She felt Glinda carefully tuck a heavy cloak around her. As Elphaba rose, a new weight settled on her shoulders – And it wasn't just the cloak.
"I hope you're happy, now that you're choosing this." Glinda said gently.
"You too." Elphaba replied, giving a small smile.
"I hope it brings you bliss. I hope you get it, and you don't live to regret it. I hope you're happy in the end." Glinda whispered. "I hope you're happy …"
Elphaba grasped her hand. "My friend …"
The tender moment was broken with an almighty crash, as the old wooden door broke down under the weight of several angry guards. Elphaba backed towards the window, her only escape route now. Thanks to her dark dress, she blended in with the shadows, while guards immediately seized Glinda, who was too panicked to react.
"There she is! Don't let her get away!"
"Let go of me! Let go!"
Elphaba's heart constricted. "She has nothing to do with it, you bastards. I'm the one you want. It's me!" She spoke bravely, flinging open the window. The cool air rushed past her face as she swung her legs instinctively over the broomstick. Taking a deep gulp, she whooped as she kicked off into the late afternoon sky. Turning around sharply, she faced the window. The guards were now hanging over it uselessly, mouths agape at the sight. The expressions on their faces were so astoundingly hilarious that she cackled. "Well, come and catch me!"
She flew a bit further, testing her footing. "So if you care to find me, look to the western sky!" She yelled at the guards, flying towards the setting sun. "As someone told me lately," Elphaba smirked, "everyone deserves a chance to fly!"
By now, a sizable crowd had gathered at the foot of the tower and at the palace gates. She looked down upon them, feeling oddly exhilarated. "And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free!" Elphaba turned around the face the now shrinking window, narrowing her eyes. "To those who'd ground me, take a message back from me: Tell them how I am defying gravity; I'm flying high, defying gravity! And soon, I'll match them in renown."
Flying off, she shouted, "And nobody, in all of Oz, no Wizard that there is – or was – is ever going to bring me down!"
She distantly heard Glinda's voice echoing, "I hope you're happy!" as the people screamed and ran, while she hurtled into the sunset, embracing her true nature at last.
A/N: Well, hello there! This just bloomed out of my mind while listening to Stephanie J. Block's last "Defying Gravity" on Broadway, on a YouTube video posted by the wonderul jaszon27. I always did wonder why Glinda never came along with Elphaba, even though she was all "Just you and I defying gravity!", so something must've happened between that and "'Elphie, you're trembling!'". This was written also because I'm too psyched for Nov 27th, waiting to watch Jackie Burns on Broadway. :D Please R&R! THERE MIGHT BE MORE CHAPTERS AS I'M ETERNALLY CURIOUS AS TO WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN DEFYING GRAVITY AND WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST.
Update: I've kept true to my curiosity ... Please check out my new work; Wicked: The Untold Story! :-)